Effects of pre-slaughter short-term factors on pork quality

Abstract

We examined the effects of pre-slaughter short-term factors including season of the year, duration of transportation and lairage time, as well as sex of pigs, on pork quality. Meat samples were collected from 590 pigs (females, entire and castrated males) that were slaughtered in a commercial abattoir in Greece over a 15-month period. Meat quality parameters pH, colour, drip loss, cooking loss, Warner–Bratzler shear values and sarcomere length were measured on the longissimus dorsi. DNA was isolated from blood samples and the frequency of the recessive halothane gene mutation HALn was determined. The results demonstrated that pork quality with respect to pH and L* values was normal in 93.9% of the samples, with 5.1% of samples classified as PSE (pale, soft and exudative) and 1.0% as DFD (dark, firm and dry). Duration of transportation was critical: brief and long transfers had the ability to impair meat quality. A lairage time of 2–4 h before slaughter was adequate when the pigs were free of HALn and the climatic conditions were not extreme. Season of the year was a very important factor, with significant variations recorded in meat-quality parameters between winter and summer months. Finally, the sex of the animals was responsible for differences in meat quality, but these differences were small and unlikely to be identified by the consumers.